America’s Leadership Expert : DO It Right

Clay Staires: This is Clay Staires with Tulsa Business Leadership in podcast number 55, America’s Leadership Expert what should I gather at each level? I’ve talked often as Clay Staires, Tulsa Business Leadership, with business owners, leaders and entrepreneurs across the country in seminars, and, as well as in boardrooms and in offices. Helping, helping leaders understand the different mindsets in the workplace. The mindsets that we carry, the mindsets that are important for a successful business. And what I found as Clay Staires Tulsa Business Leadership is, so often there are leaders that are up at the top of the organizational chart that are still trapped in a worker mentality. You may know what I’m talking about here when I say, you know, finish this sentence. If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself, this is a phrase that everybody picks up, everybody knows the ending of that phrase.

However, if I move up the organizational chart and find myself in this area of a leader, America’s Leadership Expert an upper level manager or a CEO, or if I start my own company. If I grow that company and maintain this mindset of a worker, then if I have to keep doing everything, then my company, every time it grows, it is going to get heavier, and heavier, and heavier on me. So what I want to talk about is how, what are the, what are the important things that we need to gather at each of the levels of the mindsets in the workplace, and as Clay Staires Tulsa Business Leadership, this is something that I’ve shared with multiple different college students, on different college campuses as they are launching out from the school world and into work world.

We start with the first, we’ll say it’s, there’s a pyramid here and at the lowest level, the mindset here is the worker mindset. And this worker mindset, we’ve talked about it in previous podcasts, but the worker mindset, once again, is, if you want it done right you’ve got to do it yourself. America’s Leadership Expert So at each of these levels we have, and I’m just going to go ahead and say, as you come up the ladder here, it starts with the worker, the next level up is the trainer or team builder. The next level is the manager mindset, the next level up is the leader mindset and the uppest, the upper level, the highest level is the entrepreneur mindset.

Now there are, are certain skills, there are certain things that you need to gather at each of these levels that will support and lay a foundation for you to build upon, for you to move to the next mindset. So there are, at each level, there are hard skills that you need to learn. Technical skills to do that specific job. There is specific knowledge depending upon what the work is that you’re doing, there is specific knowledge that you need to gain and grow in. If you are at the worker level I would think, obviously you would need to learn more and more about the equipment you’re working on, the, the type of job that you are doing.

But I want to increase that idea a little bit and I want to encourage you as Clay Staires Tulsa Business Leadership to expand your knowledge to the company, what do you know about the company? Are you learning about how the company is run? The history or the company, the purpose, the reason for the company to exist. America’s Leadership Expert Are you learning about the CEO, the owner of the company? This is very important knowledge for you to carry on a daily basis as a worker, so that you are able to maintain a certain context each day when you come to work. Not knowing that type of information about the company and about the CEO and leadership can make it very easy for you to gain tunnel vision, and just come to work every day, do your job and really all that matters is your job, and maybe the people right around you.

But this is something, as Clay Staires Tulsa Business Leadership, that I’ve encouraged college kids to do, to become very aware of the company and the company’s goals and the company’s reason to exist. Because you can set yourself apart really quickly. America’s Leadership Expert There also, at each of these levels, there’s going to be a certain reputation that you want to gain at each of these levels. Depending upon the industry, depending upon the company, that reputation is going to be different, but you need to determine is the positive reputation? What is the reputation that I need to gain at each level to allow me to continue to move forward.

Next of all there are relationships at each of these levels that you need to begin to develop. I have a young man that I was fortunate and honored to coach through the end of his college career and into the workplace. He was a, I started up with him as we went, as he finished up with nursing school and helped him make that transition into the workplace. And as he took his first job, I remember meeting with him a Clay Staires Tulsa Business Leadership and one of the things that we said, “Okay, we need to set a sight on the director of the hospital, you need to be introduced and get to know the director of the hospital.”

Over time, he followed the path that we had laid down for that to happen. He did meet the director of the hospital, he did become known by the director of the hospital. At one point the director actually reached out to him and said, “Hey, we’ve got this special thing going on here at the hospital, we are bringing in several of the Heisman Trophy winners over the last several years to come in and visit with our children in the hospital. I’d like for you to be a part of that effort.” So, again, because he had built that relationship he was top of mind, tip of tongue, when the director of the hospital was looking for help.

And this is something that we need to keep in mind, as workers, as trainers, managers, leaders and entrepreneurs, there are relationships at each of these levels that are going to be important for us to begin to develop. If we are not careful, as a worker we will surround ourselves only with other workers and then wonder why we are not getting noticed by leadership. Wonder why we are not moving up the way we would to move up the ladder.

Another thing that we need to gain at each of these levels, is, yes, at each of these levels, is promotion. We need to find out, and this is something that I encourage all of my college students, workers, and trainers as I coach, as Clay Staires Tulsa Business Leadership. America’s Leadership Expert We need to find that fastest path to promotion and we need to get on it and get with it. So if there is a way to get a raise, we need to get on that path right now and move toward it. If there is a way for us to move up a level or two in the organization we need to find out what that path is, let the leaders and managers know that we are interested in that path and begin moving in that direction.

So, once again, we’ve talked about so far, these things that we need to gain at each level of the mindset in the workplace. Is, we need to gain the hard skills, we need to gain knowledge, we need to gain a reputation, we need to gain relationships. We need to gain promotion, and then the final thing that I have on our list here, that we need to gain at each of these levels, and when I say gain at each of these levels, at Clay Staires Tulsa Business Leadership, this is kind of where you’re mentored. This is how we mentor and help people know, what are these different things? How much do we need to gain at each level?

But this last thing that I, I coach, leaders and business owners, is the soft skills. America’s Leadership Expert At each of these levels of mindsets in the workplace as we grow and expand, it is the soft skills that we need to continue to hone and continue to expand on. Things like communication, conflict resolution, leadership. These are great tools for us to continue to expand upon more, and more, and more. If we’re not careful we can be overlooked as a worker or a team builder for manager positions simply because we lack the soft skills. We lack the ability to build teams, we lack the ability to communicate well, to resolve conflict. To think for ourselves, to be problem solvers, to think critically, to lead others. If we lack these skills it can be so easy for us to be overlooked.

So this is something as Clay Staires, at Tulsa Business Leadership, that I continue to encourage young leaders with, is that on each of these levels as you move up the ladder from worker, to trainer, to manager, to leader and to entrepreneur, that you always have in the back of the mind what are the hard skills that I need to learn? What knowledge do I need to be gaining at this level? It’s so often, “Well I want a raise, I want to move up.” We get so preoccupied with moving up the ladder that we forget that I’m at this level for a reason. Learn the hard skills, learn the knowledge, gain the reputation, gain the relationships. Earn the promotions and expand in your soft skills America’s Leadership Expert.

This is Clay Staires with Tulsa Business Leadership, podcast number 55, what should I gather at each level of the mindsets in the workplace.